Citizens On Patrol Thread...forum rules you would like to see

[Kent Wang]

Of all the successful forums I have been on not a single one blocks first time noob threads. The only one I can think of is hackint0sh which puts all noob threads into a queue to be moderated.

Also, wikis work really well for consolidating information like "Best suit for $1000, $500, etc". FlyerTalk and HydrogenAudio have done this really well. But like all wikis, we just need some people to get it started.

 

[Matt]

The Ubuntu forums have an 'Absolute Beginner' board for noobs to post dumnoobstuff. I tended to use that one exclusively...I'm wondering if that is a good idea.

Thoughts?

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by foodguy

that's interesting and i've observed it myself on other fora ... could it be that you're the one who's changing? i've been a member of several food fora -- my own small area of expertise -- and while at first i really enjoy the give-and-take and helping answer questions, at a certain point, i burn out on answering the same questinos over and over (and arguing ... and in several cases, having my own books cited back to me as reasons i'm wrong). to maintain interest, there has to be a healthy mix ... people who know more than I do, peers, and the rest who are looking for advice. my guess is that you're in somewhat the same situation. at a certain point, when you're just teaching and no longer finding that much to learn, you get a little cranky (not you personally ... let's say "one does").

That had to be surreal. I can relate, having been told in various healthcare threads that I have no idea about Canadian health care, etc.

 

[Rambo]

Originally Posted by Matt

The Ubuntu forums have an 'Absolute Beginner' board for noobs to post dumnoobstuff. I tended to use that one exclusively...I'm wondering if that is a good idea. Thoughts?
You mean an entire sub-forum or another thread like this: http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=107280

 

[Matt]

it has an entire subforum for Absolute Beginner questions. http://ubuntuforums.org/

Absolute Beginner Talk The perfect starting place to find out more about computers, Linux and Ubuntu.

 

[F. Corbera]

Originally Posted by Manton

^^^ Do you put no stock at all in the "talked out" thesis?

For me? Not really.

I can see how it is probably true for others, but I suspect that goes in phases. Three of my favorite MC threads or posts recently were medtech's photographic summaries of his Napoli su Misura stuff, Butler's Hitchcock WAYWRN posts, your Naples trip report, and your update on your A&S jacket. New experiences make for interesting new threads and posts.

The key thing for me is that such new members or new topics be interesting. The fact that a member is "new" means little to me if the member is dull, or as I really do think is recently true, a troll, sock, spammer or "drive-by" member.

For example, Montesquieu was a new member but he came in with great WAYWRN shots and then proceeded to document and share his experiences at Attolini, Rubinacci and Steed. He provided a generous and rare glimpse of top makers on the same man. He was a bit n00by in sense that he was a recent customer for all three, yet he was interesting not just because of the goods but because he definitely had a stylistic concept he was trying to fill out.

His generosity was met by a fair amount of hosility from the peanut gallery, and a few snark bombs from senior members whose public service message is if-it's-not-my-stuff-it's-crap.

I don't know if he curtailed his posting because of this or simply being busy or losing interest. My main point with his example is that this is the kind of n00b whom I find interesting. It's not the kind that asks if he should wear a suit to a job interview or the kind that posts ten new threads in a week...or a day.

I guess I'm less concerned with reversing attrition of jaded senior members.

A recent guy like Monty is medtech_expat. His NsM thread almost went off the cliff when it went into the vera Napoletana argument trench. I'm glad it didn't, but it was close.

 

[Manton]

I don't understand. You seemed to be saying earlier that you think the supply of new members is not merely finite but also nearly exhausted.

 

[deadly7]

Originally Posted by Manton

Seems to me like there is a lot less interesting talk about good clothes in MC than there was formerly.

I could be wrong about that. It's certainly my perception. But at the very least for my perception to have changed, something on the site is likely to have changed. I am just speculating as to the cause. You are stating reasons why the phenomenon I am describing should not happen. I am more trying to explain why something that I perceive to have happened did in fact happen.

Compared to older threads I definitely think "good clothes" are not as frequently posted. When it was just the initial people for whom this was a serious hobby, there was a different tone. MTM and bespoke were many of the old discussions because you all had means to buy clothes like that. The Average Joe that did a Google search on "good suit tips" does not care about the intricacies of peak stitching or gorge. They just want a suit that doesn't look awful and is versatile. Hence, you lose the "good clothes" talk and get the "average person wants average clothes" talk in its stead.

 

[Monaco]

I don't know why so many people get hung up over noobs, there are going to be noobs for every thing, everyday. If I don't like a thread, I'll usually just click back and look for others to respond on. If the noob is in some sort of dire need of help, I'll try my best to help.

Sometimes I think the older members of SF are worse than noobs or spammers.

So where are the solutions to this thread? are there not enough moderators? do we have to elect some? are we going to make a forum pact to play nice? lol

 

[deadly7]

Originally Posted by Monaco

I don't know why so many people get hung up over noobs, there are going to be noobs for every thing, everyday. If I don't like a thread, I'll just click back and look for others to respond on. If the noob is in some sort of dire need of help, I'll try my best to help.

Sometimes I think the older members of SF are worse than noobs or spammers.

So where are the solutions to this thread? are there not enough moderators? do we have to elect some? are we going to make a forum pact to play nice? lol

You can restrict yourself. Some people can't.

 

[F. Corbera]

Originally Posted by Manton

I don't understand. You seemed to be saying earlier that you think the supply of new members is not merely finite but also nearly exhausted.

That is, indeed, what I think.

So, the rare new member who comes along with something substantive is more important to my serious interest in MC than the types of new members on whom this thread proposes to lavish renewed attention.

Well, you might be right. Maybe it's over.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by F. Corbera

That is, indeed, what I think.

So, the rare new member who comes along with something substantive is more important to my serious interest in MC than the types of new members on whom this thread proposes to lavish renewed attention.

Well, you might be right. Maybe it's over.

I may be right, but if so we seem to think I am right for wholly different reasons.

 

[Douglas]

please... why do we tolerate javyn, charley, cbrown etc?

 

[deadly7]

I don't know if vB has a mod for this or not
It would be nice to see threads < x days old [or with x days inactivity] simply moved or locked so that new posts like the one I juts reported don't happen.

 

[musicguy]

I think a noob subforum is a bad idea and could turn off users or be interpreted as an insult. Style/Clothing/Fashion whatever you want to call it isn't like Linux. Linux needs a noob forum because most users have no freaking clue about how to do anything in Linux (myself included). Clothing is different; we've been wearing clothes for practically our entire lives.

Recommend me X, or Should I or shouldn't I buy... (clothing item) is a good idea for SW&D. Maybe they should be there in MC too.

The "Ask a Question, Get an Answer" thread doesn't seem to work because some (myself included) aren't interested in going to that thread often to answer questions. That said, I've been grateful for the times I've received responses in those threads.